In this article I will discuss the
historical Temples of God in Jerusalem.
Where they were located, why they were built,
and where and when we can expect the final
Temple, the Tribulation Temple, to be built.

There have been three temples built in Jerusalem
to worship God. They include the first
temple, the Temple of Solomon that was built by
him around 1000 BC. This temple was used
for the worship of God and for sacrifice of
animals so the sins of the people of Israel
could be forgiven. It was destroyed by
King Nebuchadnezzarof Babylon around 587 BC. He later
took many of Judah's citizens to Babylon where
they resided for 70 years. The Ark of the
Covenant was taken by the Prophet Jeremiah to a
safe place and it will stay there until Jesus
returns as King of the World at the end of the
Tribulation. The second temple was built
by Zerubbabel around
520 BC. It contained the same rooms as
Solomon's temple, but the Holy of Holies did not
contain the Ark of the Covenant. The third
temple was built by King Herod, beginning in 19
BC and was used by Jesus to teach those that
wanted to hear the "good news" of the gospel
from Him. This temple was destroyed by the
Roman general Titus and his armies in AD 70.

After ministering in the temple one day, Jesus
left it and His disciples then approached Him
and made a comment about how magnificent was the
temple at Jerusalem. He then made a
prophecy about the complete and total
destruction of the temple:

Matthew 24:1-2 And
Jesus went out from the temple, and was
going on His way; and his disciples came to
Him to show Him the buildings of the
temple. But He answered and said unto
them, See ye not all these things? verily I
say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be
thrown down.

With the Master Himself saying that Herod's
Temple would be completely destroyed, all the
way down to and including the foundation,
how can anyone say that the current temple mount
in Jerusalem with the two Muslim temples on it
are the actual Temple Mount and that the Wailing
Wall is the foundation of the temple area that
stood in the time of Jesus? Further confirmation
that not one stone of Herod's temple will be
left in its place is contained in The
Works of Flavus Josephus Book 7,chapter
1 (written in AD 93-94):

How the
entire city of Jerusalem was
demolished, excepting three towers (of
the Roman Fort Antonia); and how Titus
commended his soldiers in a speech
made to them, and distributed rewards
to them and then dismissed many of
them. Now as soon as the army had no
more people to slay or to plunder,
because there remained none to be the
objects of their fury, (for they would
not have spared any, had there
remained any other work to be done,) Caesar
gave orders that they should now demolish the entire
city and temple, but should
leave as many of the towers standing
as were of the greatest eminency; that
is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and
Mariamne; and so much of the wall as
enclosed the city on the west side.

This wall was spared, in order to
afford a camp for such as were to lie
in garrison, as were the towers also
spared, in order to demonstrate to
posterity what kind of city it was,
and how well fortified, which the
Roman valor had subdued; but for all
the rest of the wall, it was so
thoroughly laid even with the ground
by those that dug it up to the
foundation, that there was left
nothing to make those that came
thither believe it had ever been
inhabited. This was
the end which Jerusalem came to by the
madness of those that were for
innovations; a city otherwise of great
magnificence, and of mighty fame among
all mankind.The
Antonia
Fortress

The Antonia fortress was built by King Herod to
honor the Roman, Mark Anthony. Here is where
Josephus (Book 5, chapter 5) said the fortress
was located in relation to Herod's Temple:

Now as to the tower of Antonia, it
was situated at the corner of two cloisters of
the court of the temple; of that on the west,
and that on the north; it was erected upon a
rock of fifty cubits in height, and was on a
great precipice; it was the work of king
Herod, wherein he demonstrated his natural
magnanimity. In the first place, the rock
itself was covered over with smooth pieces of
stone, from its foundation, both for ornament,
and that any one who would either try to get
up or to go down it might not be able to hold
his feet upon it. Next to this, and before you
come to the edifice of the tower itself, there
was a wall three cubits high; but within that
wall all the space of the tower of Antonia
itself was built upon, to the height of forty
cubits.

The inward parts had the largeness and form of
a palace, it being parted into all kinds of
rooms and other conveniences, such as courts,
and places for bathing, and broad spaces for
camps; insomuch that, by having all
conveniences that cities wanted, it might seem
to be composed of several cities, but by its
magnificence it seemed a palace. And as the
entire structure resembled that of a tower, it
contained also four other distinct towers at
its four corners; whereof the others were but
fifty cubits high; whereas
that which lay upon the southeast corner was
seventy cubits high, that from thence the
whole temple might be viewed; but on the
corner where it joined to the two cloisters
of the temple, it had passages down to them
both, through which the guard (for
there always lay in this tower a Roman legion)
went several ways among the cloisters, with
their arms, on the Jewish festivals, in order
to watch the people, that they might not there
attempt to make any innovations; for the
temple was a fortress that guarded the city,
as was the tower of Antonia a guard to the
temple; and in that tower were the guards of
those three.

There was also a peculiar fortress belonging
to the upper city, which was Herod's palace;
but for the hill Bezetha, it was divided from
the tower Antonia, as we have already told
you; and as that hill on which the tower of
Antonia stood was the highest of these three,
so did it adjoin to the new city, and was the
only place that hindered the sight of the
temple on the north. And this shall suffice at
present to have spoken about the city and the
walls about it, because I have proposed to
myself to make a more accurate description of
it elsewhere.

Josephus states that Fort Antonia is
next to and above the location of the
temple. So the fort would most likely be
located just north of the temple area. So
is there the possibility that the current
Wailing Wall is not the foundation of
Herod's Temple, but is the foundation of the
Fortress Antonia? If this is so, the
actual temple location must be just south
of the Wailing Wall. In light of General
Titus allowing Fortress Antonia to be the only
structure in Jerusalem to be left intact, it's
foundation would be the only structure left from
the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD
70. Thus, the Muslim Dome of the Rock and
the Al-Aqsa
Mosque would thus not be built
on the temple mount, the place where Solomon, Zerubbabel
and Herod built temples to God.

The Tribulation Temple will be built

Where and when will the Tribulation Temple be
built?
Building a Jewish Temple on the current Temple
Mount location would cause great resentment from
the Muslim officials and would not be acceptable
to them. Building a Jewish Temple adjacent
to either of the two Muslim temples would most
likely cause a great war between Israel and the
nations surrounding it. The Muslim
officials would not be happy with the building
of the temple outside of the current temple
mount but would be reluctantly acceptable to
them. The Jewish authorities will know of
the writings of Josephus and that he has
described that the stones of the city and of
Herod's temple were removed from their place and
hence that the actual temple site is not where
the two Muslim temples now reside. It will be
very important to the Israeli religious
officials that they select the correct location
where the temple must reside:

Deuteronomy
16:2 And thou shalt sacrifice the
passover unto Jehovah thy God, of the
flock and the herd, in the place which
Jehovah shall choose, to cause
his name to dwell there.

We can only speculate when the
Tribulation Temple will be built. We know
that before the middle of the Tribulation, the
temple will be in full use where sacrifices of
animals will be made. The book of
Leviticus explains in detail the various types
of animal sacrifices that will be made for sins
that are committed by Israeli Jews. We
know that the Jewish religious leaders have
already prepared the instruments used in temple
worship including the table of shew bread and
the candlesticks and a cornerstone of the
temple. Search the web for articles that
describe the various religious instruments that
the Jewish religious authorities have
crafted. Chapter 7 of I Kings elaborates
on the temple and the ceremonial pieces used in
the worship of God.

There is the possibility that the temple
construction could possibly start and the temple
be in use before the beginning of the
Tribulation. The latest the temple could
be constructed would be as a part of the seven
year treaty that Antichrist makes with Israel
and the Muslim nations around it. The
temple construction would start at the very
beginning of the Tribulation and be completed
before mid-Tribulation. In either case,
before the Tribulation begins or before
mid-Tribulation, the Mosaic laws will be put in
place in Israel and the Temple purified by the
blood of the Red Heifer then animal sacrifices
could be made and the people of Israel would
then have to obey the Mosaic laws. You can
read the books of Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy to understand the various laws that
will be enforced by the Israeli religious
leaders. Some include enforcing no-work
during the Sabbath, which runs from Friday
evening to Saturday evening. You could not
walk very far on the Sabbath; a Sabbath's Day
Walk is just over half a mile. Severe
penalties will be given to those people who
violate the Sabbath's day's no-work commandment.

Revelation
11:1-2 And there was given me a reed like
unto a rod: and one said, Rise, and measure
the temple of God, and the altar, and them
that worship therein. And the court
which is without the temple leave without,
and measure it not; for it hath been given
unto the nations: and the holy city shall
they tread under foot forty and two months.

I believe that these verses describe that the
area just north of the Tribulation Temple area
as the current temple mount that has the two
Muslim temples built on it. The forty two
months mentioned is the second half of the
tribulation where the Antichrist will perform
his desecration of the Tribulation Temple.
I wonder if there could be a "deal" agreed to
between the nation of Israel and the Muslim
authorities if Israel is allowed to construct
their temple south of the current temple
mount? The Jewish quarter of Jerusalem
could perhaps be given to the Muslims in
exchange for allowing Israel to peacefully
construct the temple or have any Jewish
settlements removed from the West Bank.
Just a thought.

The Red Heifer

Numbers 19:1-11 And
Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying, This is the statute of the law which
Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto
the children of Israel, that they bring thee
a red heifer without spot, wherein is no
blemish, [and] upon which never came
yoke. And ye shall give her unto
Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her
forth without the camp, and one shall slay
her before his face: and Eleazar the priest
shall take of her blood with his finger, and
sprinkle her blood toward the front of the
tent of meeting seven times. And one
shall burn the heifer in his sight; her
skin, and her flesh, and her blood,
with her dung, shall he burn: and the priest
shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and
scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the
burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall
wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his
flesh in water, and afterward he shall come
into the camp, and the priest shall be
unclean until the even. And he that burneth
her shall wash his clothes in water, and
bathe his flesh in water, and shall be
unclean until the even. And a man that is
clean shall gather up the ashes of the
heifer, and lay them up without the camp in
a clean place; and it shall be kept for the
congregation of the children of Israel for a
water for impurity: it is a
sin-offering. And he that gathereth
the ashes of the heifer shall wash his
clothes, and be unclean until the even: and
it shall be unto the children of Israel, and
unto the stranger that sojourneth among
them, for a statute for ever.

Just after the construction of the Tribulation
Temple is completed, the high priest will then
pick out a perfect red heifer and she will be
used to purify the Tribulation Temple. The
high priest will then slay the heifer and take
some of her blood and sprinkle with his finger
seven times towards the temple. It will
then be purified and available to offer
sacrifices to God. Her body will then be
burnt and her ashes kept somewhere to remind the
Jews to be ready for service to God and so
sacrifices can be made on their behalf by the
high priest.

Antichrist Desecrates the Temple

2 Thessalonians
2:4 he that opposeth and exalteth himself
against all that is called God or that is
worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple
of God, setting himself forth as God.

The Antichrist will apparently have a throne
built for himself and will have it placed in the
Holy Place inside the Temple. He will
expect that the various Jewish priests and
Israeli leaders will visit him and give him
great adoration and worship. He will not simply
say that he is a "god", but that he is "the one
true and living God". He will say that he
is the Messiah that Israel has expected since
before the time of Jesus and hence expect the
people of Israel to worship him. What a brazen
statement to make to the nations of the earth
and especially to the people of Israel! To
me, this is the worst sin that Antichrist can
make. Apparently he actually believes this
lie, but he is only a man and his just judgment
will be given to him when Jesus returns as
conqueror of all evil at the end of the
Tribulation.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall
make a firm covenant with many for one week: and
in the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon
the wing of abominations [shall come] one that
maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and
that determined, shall [wrath] be poured out
upon the desolate.

The Jews of the world and in Israel will welcome the
seven year peace treaty that promises to protect
Israel from those nations around it that currently
want to destroy it. During the first half of
the Tribulation, the Jews will greatly appreciate
the effort Antichrist exerts to keep Israel free and
to allow the Tribulation Temple to be built and to
allow the Mosaic Law to be enforced by the Israeli
religious officials. At mid Tribulation
Antichrist moves his throne into the temple and says
"I am god." God's wrath--the Day of the Lord
then follows with great destruction upon the world
during the second half of the Tribulation.
Antichrist will also have his wrath--the Jews will
not want to worship him, and they will say no to
worshiping him. Antichrist will then arrest,
torture and put to death as many Jews he can that do
not worship him. This is his wrath upon the
desolate, those that only want to worship the true
and living God, not Antichrist.

Matthew 24:15-21 When
therefore ye see the abomination of desolation,
which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place (let him that readeth
understand), then let them that are in Judaea
flee unto the mountains: let him that is on the
housetop not go down to take out things that are
in his house: and let him that is in the field
not return back to take his cloak. But woe
unto them that are with child and to them that
give suck in those days! And pray ye that
your flight be not in the winter, neither on a
sabbath: for then shall be great tribulation,
such as hath not been from the beginning of the
world until now, no, nor ever shall be.

An interesting part of the above verse is: But woe unto them that are
with child and to them that give suck in those
days! Note that it does not say
anything about older children, only the younger ones
and those women that are pregnant. Is it
possible that 3 1/2 years earlier, at the time of
the First Fruits Rapture, just before the beginning
of the Tribulation that all children under the age
of accountability were also taken to
Heaven? If not so, however, why are the
older children not mentioned? Just a thought.

What Jesus did mean when He said: Let him that readeth understand? Let's explore this statement.
The Holy Place in the Temple area is the room just
inside the Temple building where the 12 loaves of
shew bread are stored and incense is
continually offered unto The Lord. The abomination
of desolation is the Image of the Beast, a statue of
Antichrist that is standing inside the Holy Place in
the Temple and thus deeply insulting Almighty
God. Note that the Holy of Holies is not
mentioned by Jesus. Perhaps the Holy Spirit
will just not allow Antichrist's image to be placed
into the Holy of Holies and then further insult The
Lord God.

I wonder if there is any parallel we can draw
between this situation and the situation in the Book
of I Samuel where the Ark of the Covenant was taken
by the Philistines and stored in the temple of the
Philistine god, Dagon?

1 Samuel 5:2 And the
Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it
into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.1 Samuel 5:3 And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen
upon his face to the ground before the ark of
Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his
place again.1 Samuel 5:4 And when they arose early on
the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen
upon his face to the ground before the ark of
Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the
palms of his hands [lay] cut off upon the
threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to
him.

The next morning after the Ark was placed in Dagon's
temple, the statue of Dagon fell prostrate in front
of the Ark. The statue of Dagon was then
raised by the Philistine priests and the following
morning the statue was laying prostrate in front of
the Ark and its head and hands were broken
off. Is it possible that the statue of
Antichrist will also fall on its face in the
Tribulation Temple in a similar manner before the
end of the Tribulation? I would not be
surprised.

Outside the temple will be another Image of the
Beast, a large TV screen where videos of
Antichrist will run continually and those that are
allowed entrance into the Temple area will view
images of Antichrist and his speeches. This
video spectacle will also be run on TV channels,
hand-held devices and on Internet web pages.
Once Antichrist desecrates the temple, the Jewish
religious leaders will abandon performing animal
sacrifices and lighting incense in the Temple.
Perhaps the False Prophet will then offer incense in
the Holy Place to honor Antichrist.

Jesus
then said: Let them that are in Judaea
flee unto the mountains. Jesus
is commanding what the Jewish people should be doing
once they find out that Antichrist has desecrated
the Temple. Jesus counsels that they must flee
to the mountains which are most probably the
mountains east of the Jordan river in the nation of
Jordan; possibly near Petra. The very moment
they find about the desecration, they must go
immediately from their homes to the mountains.
There Jesus will prepare a place for them to stay
and will take care of their physical needs for 3 1/2
years. He will most likely send manna down
from Heaven so they can feed themselves. A sad
part of this verse is the word, woe.
It sounds like some of the women in Israel with
small children or babies may not successfully make
their escape from Israel to the mountains.
Some may just have to stay behind in Israel or even
some may die trying to escape. It will be extremely
difficult to make a trip of any distance on foot,
because they will most likely not have access to
cars, trucks or even horses to carry them to safety
in Jordan. Those that do escape to the
mountains will most likely receive some kind of
miraculous help from God.

How will the Jews know about the warnings given in
Matthew 24? They will most likely hear it from
the Main Harvest Christians: (Feeding of the 5,000)
that will be persecuted during the first half of the
Tribulation. The Jews will know about the
incarceration, torture and beheadings by guillotine
that Antichrist will inflict on Christians during
this time. Yet, most Christians at that time
will be extremely faithful to Jesus Christ.
The Jews in Israel will somehow know this.

Winter will be a difficult time of the year to
travel, especially on foot. If any Jews pray
that "Please let my flight not be in winter" or "on
a Sabbath", then their flight from Jerusalem will
simply not happen on either the Sabbath or in
winter. This prayer will be a prayer of faith
in Jesus Christ and He will answer yes when
they pray this prayer.

Final thoughts

The desecration of the Tribulation Temple in
Jerusalem by Antichrist is not the end of the
story. We know that after the Battle of
Armageddon at the very end of the Tribulation, all
the components of Antichrist's government, military
and religion will have been destroyed. The
very last act of the Tribulation will be when Jesus
sends His angels to capture the Antichrist and the
False Prophet. Jesus will judge their works
and they will be found guilty. They will then
be cast into the Lake of Fire and be tormented
forever and ever. They will never escape the
Judgment of Jesus; their punishment will be the most
severe ever pronounced upon any human beings.
Satan and his angels will then be locked up in the
abyss for 1,000 years.

Daniel 12:11-12 And from
the time that the continual [burnt-offering]
shall be taken away, and the abomination that
maketh desolate set up, there shall be a
thousand and two hundred and ninety days.
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the
thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
The temple in Jerusalem will be desecrated by
Antichrist for 1,290 days (three and one-half years)
and the Tribulation will then end. The
difference between 1335 and 1290 is 45 days.
What do you think is the significance of these 45
days? I personally believe that it will be the
time that the holy angels of God completely destroy
the throne of Antichrist and his image inside the
holy place and the giant display screen outside of
the temple. The holy angels will then clean up
the temple mount and Jerusalem and the rest of the
world from the destruction that happened to the
world during the seven year Tribulation.

Jesus will then raise from the dead all those that
have died during the Tribulation that did not
take the mark of the beast. They will receive
their resurrection bodies and be like Adam and Eve
were before the fall and they will rule along with
Jesus during His thousand year kingdom.

The blessings after this will be that God will
remove the curse from the earth; the lion will lay
down with the lamb; disease will be removed from
man's suffering; and the thorn and thistle will be
removed from man's gardens. Jesus will then
rule the world for 1,000 years as its King with
perfect justice for all. The rewards will be
well worth the 45 day wait. This will be a
message to be patient for the people of the nation
of Israel and all gentiles that Jesus saves during
the Tribulation.

Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment
was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of
them that had been beheaded for the testimony of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as
worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and
received not the mark upon their forehead and
upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned
with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the
dead lived not until the thousand years should
be finished. This is the first
resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: over these
the second death hath no power; but they shall
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with him a thousand years.

Satan and his angels will then be judged after the
Millennium kingdom is complete. They will then
be cast into the Lake of Fire and tormented there
forever. Those people that took the mark of
the Beast during the Tribulation and those people
that were the unsaved from all ages will be raised
from the dead 1,000 years later after the completion
of the Millennial Kingdom. They will be judged
at the Great White Throne Judgment. They will
then be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented
forever.